Smoke and mirrors
by missus wishus69
Summary: When Kichona saves Itachi from certain death an oddly awkward relationship forms around his debt. Now that someone knows his secret Itachi's blooming illness may not be the only feelings blossoming.
1. epilogue

Smoke and Mirrors

Epilogue

Life is life and death is death, needing someone to spend it with.

Why I hadn't seen you before? Influenced by others but no more.

Forbidden together through ne'er good weather.

Now I've had a taste there could be no other.

Protecting me and save me from fear.

You listen and hear, comfort from tears

we'll keep on hiding, smoke and mirrors.

-missus wishus69

Its not to say that day was the first time I'd seen him, I'd known him for a while in fact he'd been living here just about as long as I had but we had never really spoken. He was always so quiet, he never took off his uniform and rarely made eye contact unless it was to stare you down for looking at him the wrong way, always brooding in the corner during party and meeting and since he never looked like he wanted to talk I assumed he didn't. Back then I was too young to figure things out on my own and when I asked my elder brother he told me that that man was a bad one and that I should never talk to him, but I was allowed to hang out with my brother's friends and I'm sure they weren't much better... I don't know what but there was something about him that made me keep looking back, just to check if he was alright, if he was still there, if he was following closely in line with the rest of us but the thing is, he never was. His long dark hair was always in his eyes so I could not see what he was feeling, his face constantly downcast and his deep voice addressed all formally no matter who they were. He was different, special, and I knew for the first time that day that I wanted- no, I needed to know him.

In all truth the reason I kept tabs on him may have been because I admired him, or perhaps I had other unseen motives all together either way my brother would let me have nothing to do with him on the grounds that he was a criminal... my brother, though, had no room to talk, for he was a million times worse, but he only said those things because he loved me. Over the years he led through this dangerous journey called life and protected me when our father would not, he kept me from the things that hurt me when no one else cared to and comforted me when I cried and my guardian angel, he who had told me the rules since my beginning deemed that seemingly lifeless shadow of a man the greatest of all threats to his little sister. My brother never would have guessed he'd be the one to bring us together and eventually to tear us apart.


	2. Secrets

DISCLAIMER: ALL THE NARUTO CHARACTERS AND PLACES BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS

smoke and mirrors

chapter 1 - Secrets

Blaring pop music and an abundance of red streamers filled the dining hall making the space look like Valentines day without the little heart candies, the smell of burning wax and hot sweets settled in the air and the tantilizing taste of homemade birthday cake danced on my tastebuds. This was a happy time and the activities the others had taken to reflected that, everyone was either speaking loudly or laughing at some unheard joke, but even in the happiest times some one person could be hiding even the slightest hint of saddness and dispair... That person, was me.

I sighed silently and looked up at the banner I had hung above the doorway that very morning, in a way, this was the source of my whirling torrent of depression. 'Happy 18th Birthday Miyazi!' Miyazi Nanami, that was my brother's name. That morning at 5:30am he had finally reached the age where he was able to seperate from our parents and go his own way in the world, but in the case of my brother he would reather stay but was being forced out. Our father, Nagato Fuuma wanted him to go settle down in some village, a powerful one and set up for him to be able to conquor that village when he saw fit, he wanted to use my brother for his own personal gain in his insane plan to rule the world or some such nonsense. This is the sole reason he had children, but I didn't care to think about it too much.

Miyazi had all his bags stacked near the door and by the end of the day he would be gone and I would be left to my own lonely devices... again. I squirmed in my tight kimono, glaring down and the glass of punch in my hand, my eyes began to swirl as did the drink, I needed to distract myself with my cute little Rin'negan games from the sadness and focus on the party, find some joy in the fun. But I could not.

"Hey, Kichona-chan. Aren't you having fun?" Glancing up through my deep blue bangs I smiled at my best friend leaning over my shoulder, on his face a concerned look.

"Yea, I guess. Dei, I-I just don't want him to l-leave." Upon hearing the wavering tone in my voice Deidara sat down on the bench next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"We're all going to miss him Kichona-chan but you can't let him see you all sad like this, it'll just make him guilty that he has to go."

"Why would he be guilty if he doesn't have a choice?" I asked sourly, glaring accross the room at Pain who was walking from person to person saying... something. Pain was here because Nagato could not be, he was my father's puppet, which was pretty creepy but what was worse was that Pain was created from the corpse of Uncle Yahiko because my father refused to believe he was dead.

I continued glaring at him as he made his way accross the room to us. Ignoring me completely Pain walked right up to Deidara.

"Where is Itachi." It was more of a demand than a question, one that recieved nothing more than the simple shake of the head from my blonde friend. Pain's orange hair bounced as his head snapped my way and he frowned, I knew I should have looked him in the eye because that's what he liked but I never could. Embedded in Pain's face were eighteen neatly inserted piercings, each allowing my father to pour his chakra into the husk and control it. Needless to say this freaked me out, I could never look at his face.

He frowned, "Why aren't you socializing?" I forgot to mention, I was suposed to be the hostess of this party and therefore had to strike up a conversation with everyone in the room, this was merely practice for my next meet and greet with the mizukage as i was an ambassator for the village hidden in the rain, this too was part of my father's 'ingenious' plot to take over the world.

"Father, I'm tired and these getta hurt my feet. I can't hostess anymore." I whined, this practace usually got me what I wanted, but not this time. Father frowned and started to turn away from me, no doubt to go and keep looking for Itachi, who I had also noticed was not at the party, when he stopped suddenly and said before he left.

"If you are tired then go take a break and get Itachi from his room." Then he left back into the throngs of subordinates.

I shrugged and got up to leave the room, just as I was passing the doorframe I saw out of the corner of my eye Deidara sitting in the exact same place staring after me in surprise. Was he surprised that I could still walk in my shoes? He should know that they had never hurt my feet anyway, I just said that to get out of there early.

The hallways were dimly lit in this place, I'd always hated the depressing atmosphere and wondered what could have ever convinced my father that this was a good invironment in which to raise children, technically three of us 'kids' had grown up in this place: me, my brother, and that man that i'm going to get... Itachi, he's an Uchiha, I think. The Uchiha had a bloodline limit something kind of like the Rin'negan that my father and I shared, Sharengan I believe it was called but I had no idea what it could do.

"What powers would take root in the children's eyes if i married an Uchiha?" I wondered out loud, immediatly after I finished my thought I stopped cold in my tracks, had I really just thought that? What the hell? I cleared my mind of such odd thoughts and continued on my way down the hall only pausing again to take my shoes off, they really were starting to piss me off. It did not take me get to the room of he who thought he could ditch my brother's party and get away with it, for contrary to popular belief the house that Akatsuki resided in wasn't all that big and everyone had to squish together to have enough space for everyone to sleep at night.

I knew it was Itachi-san's room because there was a small red and white Uchiha symbol carved into the door and plenty of grafitti written in in marker exclaiming how much of an ass the owner of the room was. Seeing all the vulger things people were willing to say about this man I second-guessed my indifference about making him go to the party, what if he decided to attack me instead of go to a boring birthday party? One of the notes said he was a 'fucking murderer' and 'deserved to die', was he really that bad, and why would people here say that, we were all the same weren't we? Maybe I shouldn't be there. I found my hand shaking as I reached up to knock on the door, it's not that I couldn't protect myself in a dangerous situation, it's that I was technically not allowed to. When I was young my brother had been trained in the ways of ninjutsu by Nagato himself, my brother had wanted me to learn as well just in case there was a time in which he would not be able to protect me but father refused, saying that a lady should never fight and that he needed me to be helpless, helplessness earned trust not strength. Fortunatly for me Miyazi had gone behind father's back and taught me anyway and he admitted that I was a better ninja than he and perhaps even better than father.

I let out a breath of air I had not know I was holding in and slammed my fist to the door.

'Knock, knock, knock!' "Itachi-san? Are you in there?" I recieved no answer. 'Knock! knock!' "Itachi?" Still nothing.

I frowned and knocked even louder. Who did he think he was ignoring me? Didn't he know who was yelling at him? When I yell at you you damn well better answer! (The last subordinate to ignore me got fired, and in Akatsuki 'fired'= terminated) When I still didn't get an answer in return I began to think that he really wasn't in there, maybe he had taken on a secret mission or something and was away. In an attempt to prove my theory I pressed my ear to the door and closed my eyes, straining to hear the sound of his breathing or moving around or something that would indicate to me that he was in there. I did not know, though, that what I would hear would end up changing my life forever.

The softest noise seemed to be coming from the restroom, it sounded like a faint caugh, he may have a cold or something and not be able to attend the party but he was deffinatly in there and still had not answered me.

"Itachi?" I yelled as the harsh shound escilated to a whooping rasping caugh that sounded like it was impossible to breathe with, "It's Kichona are you alright?" I expected not a word against mine but once again I was wrong. From in between the horrible scratchy sound came a strained raspy voice that I assumed belonged to the Uchiha for whom I had been searching, but I could not be sure, I had never heard him speak.

"Go away! *hack* *caugh*" He sounded like he was far enough away from the door for me to knock it down if I needed to. No matter how I needed to I was going to get him out to that party, not because father told me to but because he had pissed me off and I was fucking sure I was going to make him miserable as well! before I decided to destroy his door I went for the door nob only to find that he had locked it.

'What the hell?' I thought, none of the doors in Akatsuki had locks save the front door, not even mine and I was the only girl! I growled and wretched at the door, ignoring the groan of the wood as I pounded on it repeatedly, angrilly, at the man behind it.

"Itachi Uchiha you get your sorry ass out in this hallway right now or so help me I'll-" I stopped short, freezing completely as panic washed over me, the caughing had stopped and a heavy 'thump' and a sort of groaning sound. Something was wrong, he wasn't just ignoring me this time. Frantically I pressed myself close to the door hoping it would help him to hear me better.

"Itachi-san? Are you alright?"..."Get away from the door! I'm breaking it down!" I heard no protest and nodded. Winding back I slammed my dainty bony fist into the thick slab of oak that would have not budged for any other but for me it showed no resistance as it was torn off it's hinges and broke completely out the window on the other side of the room.

I looked around for a moment at his room before rushing inside. It was immaculatly clean and everything looked in it's place, the bed was made and there was not even a sock to be found on the floor. If Itachi was so tidey then why was there one solitary spot of blood on the creeme carpeted floor? Realizing that it was his blood I dashed into the bathroom not caring that I knocked down everything on his desk as the sleeve of my kimono passed it.

"Oh my god!" My hands shot to mouth to conceal a shocked look, Itachi was on his knees on the bathroom tile, one hand pressed to the floor suporting him as he was hunched over the floor and the other covering his mouth. Blood seeped out from between his fingers, I stooped down next to him, churning up the chakra inside of me and focusing it in my left hand which I placed on his back and began to heal. Usually I would take the injured to Zetsu or Kakuzu but this was an emergancy, besides I was sure that Itachi-san would tell no one about my shinobi skills if I asked him not to later.

As I healed him with one hand I gathered his long midnight black hair in the other and tied it back with a ponytail holder so he would not get blood in it. I had expected him to bat me to the side and send me away when I touched him but he did not, and perhaps the fact that he hadn't scared me more than he would have had he hit me. Throughout the healing process Itachi stayed completely still, frozen in the same place he had been in when I first found him here. When I was sure he was going to be alright for the moment I put a hand on his chest and forced him to sit up and eventually to his feet, leaving the puddle of deep crimson blood where it fell. I had not realized how much he had bled until he got up, the puddle was about two by three feet.

He stumbled a bit as I led him to his bed but Itachi's face did not change and he only looked at the floor, I assumed it had hurt his pride to have a woman come to his rescue like that.

"Itachi-san, what happened? What was that?"

"Please do not tell anyone about what you saw." I nodded. He still did not look at me but glared accross the room at all the things I had knocked off his desk, one thing imparticular he stared at with sad eyes. A small wooden pictureframe that now had broken glass thanks to me. I followed his gaze just as he got up and took the picture from the floor, for the first time I got a real good look at Itachi Uchiha. He had not been wearing his uniform or any bandages whatsoever, the only thing he had on was a black t-shirt and black capris, no mesh and no weapons pouches. I blushed, catching myself as my eyes wandered down his back to a nice, firm-

"Please go back to the party Kichona-sama," His voice was deep and velvety smoothe as though he had not just caused it to bleed a few moments before. "I will join you after I am finished here." He then brushed the shards of glass off the photo and as he did I was able to get a better look at it. there were two children in the old wrinkled photo, one had two identical wrinkles on either side of his nose: Itachi, and the other was smaller with a bright shining smile on his face and spikey blackish blue hair. Was this Itachi's brother? Did he even have a brother?

He seemed to be waiting for me to leave as he stood there, looking down at the broken frame and the glass and for the first time I felt that this man, the one who everyone shunned for no particular reason was a real, feeling, person. I stood but I did not leave. Itachi seemed to flinch at my hand on his arm and his tight hold on the frame lingered as I eased it out of his hands.

Itachi watched intently as I picked up a shard of glass off the floor and put it back in the frame and my eyes began to swirl, the millions of tiney shards did as I please and slowly floated back into place, fusing together and healing the broken glass immediatly. He kind of stared as I set the frame back on his desk and I blushed.

"I'm sorry, i wasn't watching where I was going. Please come back to the party when you are finihsed!" I turned and scurried for the door but his deep voice kept me from getting any further away.

"Wait." I turned back and our eyes met, he immediatly averted his gaze to the floor. "...Please... I'll only be a moment."

"A-alright." he motioned to the bed and I sat down while he dissapeared back into the bathroom to finish getting ready. I could only wonder what unseen force made my voice waver so greatly then.

I would have blushed again when Itachi came out to join me had he not been wearing that damn uniform again! Whoever told him that clouds looked good on anyone (Nagato!) was a damn lyer! I shook my head dissaprovingly and clicked my toungue.

"Are you really going to wear that to a party? What's wrong with you?" He glared at the ground, looking hurt and for the first time in my life I felt as though I had gone too far.

"What's wrong with it?" I could have laughed out loud, Itachi Uchiha, Mr. Toughy Tough was pouting! I had never seen a more charming sight in my life.

"Well for starters," I said hopping off the bed and to the closet, "Mumu's are soooo last year, try some pants queenie," I tossed him a pair of black pants that he had folded neatly on a shelf before rummaging around a bit for a shirt as well, 'Not much of a selection here - oh! This is perfect!'

From the hanger in the very back of the closet I ripped a blue and black tank top, he would probably say no to wearing it but I had to try... I wanted to see muscles. ;3

When I turned around, shirt in hand he had already gone to the bathroom and back to change into the pants and I was forced to use every ounce of focus in my body to halt a cascading waterfall of blood from spurting out my nose. Aparently he did not wear a shirt under said ugly mumu. I absentmindedly let my eyes wander over his arms, chest, and abs, there was not a strand of bodyhair to be found, and my gaze began to drift down to his-

"Put a shirt on will ya?" I blushed and chucked the shirt at him before whirling back around to stare into the closet.

"Sorry." He said, he hadn't done anything that would have led me to believe that he knew I was eye raping him, and if he did he just didn't let on.

"I don't like this." I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye to make sure he was dressed. He was. Damn. At his comment I merely shook my head in dissaproval and dragged him out of his room and down the hall towards the party. We had barely gotten half way there when I noticed he was preparing to say something. My ears perked up and I found myself listening intently though he had not yet spoken a word.

"Thank you," now THAT I had not expected.

"W-what?" He had caught me off guard and when I looked up at him I had expected to see some kind of emotion in his face like a normal human being but all I got was a cold stare down the hall like always. 'What a freak.' I thought.

"... For helping me..." Well, he definatly was not a man of many words, "Thank you."

'Helping you?' I thought, steam practacally rolling out my ears, 'I saved your ass from an early grave and you know it you sorry good-for-nothing-'

"Kichona? Where have you been? We've all been waiting for you!" Miyazi stood in the doorway of the dining hall waving at me but stopped and frowned when he saw who was trailing silently behind me. My brother strode over to us and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me tightly to him as he looked Itachi up and down. They glared at each other for a moment, I thought there was going to be a fight the way they both frowned.

"Buahahahahaha! Itachi! What are you wearing?" My brother... was laughing?

Itachi nodded my way before answering. "Kichona-sama did not want me to wear my uniform." He deadpanned but somehow my brother thought this was even more hillarious than his outfit and fell onto his butt, laughter weakening his knees.

"Ahahahahaha! And that's what you picked out?"

Itachi shrugged, "No... she did." And this was even more illudicrous as my brother rolled back and forth on the floor gripping his sides and laughing so hard he began to cry while the more stoic of us glared down at him from a normal person's hight. After about a minute of this Miyazi got up off the ground and whiped his eyes.

"Whew! Hey, I needed that." He said, still chuckling a little as he turned back to the room and led us inside, "Now come on, it's time for me to go."

At the sound of those words I wanted to go and hide, perhaps if no one could find me father would let big brother stay so he could help find me? Itachi must have sensed my worry and stood by the door waiting for me, urging me to go and face my fears, or at least that's what I interpreted it as.

Everyone was still in the room from the lowest subordinates to the official members of Akatsuki, it only made sense that all these people had shown up, Miyazi was a brother to all of us even though none of us were directly related to him. Deidara ran up to me and pulled Itachi and to the front of the crowd, by the time we got there brother had already put on his coat and up his bag with his hand on the doornob. Tears stung my eyes threatening to fall as there was nothing I could do to keep my brother from leaving. Deidara, knowing my distress layed his head on my shoulder and wrapped an arm around my waist and Itachi awkwardly put a hand on my shoulder, but as he made a short speech about how he would miss us I could no longer hold it in. I broke from the crowd in a mad dash and clung to my brother, crying into his chest.

"Don't go brother, don't go." I whispered when my cries died down. I had expected him to tell me to toughen up and see him off with some kind of dignity but he didn't. He returned my hug and I could have sworn I felt a tear or two fall onto my shoulder before he straigtened up and motioned to someone in the crowd to come over.

Again I felt the large cold hand of the Uchiha on my shoulder as he gently peeled me off of Miyazi.

"Kichona-sama, please calm yourself. Not in front of the subordinates." I nodded and dried my eyes, he was right I had to be strong in front of the others, I couldn't cry, I was sixteen years old for god's sake. And then I saw something that made me wonder if everything Miyazi had ever told me was backwards. He smiled at Itachi and held out a hand for him to shake and when he did I thought there would be a buzzer there or something but there wasn't. Earlier when my brother had spoken to Itachi I assumed he was just making fun of him since he had always ripped on how low a person Itachi was but now in my brother's final moments at home he had just flipped that theory on it's head. The both of them were smiling and as my brother turned and walked out the door he looked back at us over his shoulder and said to me:

"I'll miss you little sister," and to Itachi:

"Take good care of her for me."


	3. Orders

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything affiliated with it. That belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**PLEASE REVIEW**

**I would like to apologize in advance for the writing in this chapter, it is not what I wanted it to be and I am terribly sorry for any ooc-ness. **

**Please, READ ON! -**

Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter 2

Orders

It seemed that as soon as Miyazi had dissapeared out the door dark grey clouds rolled over the horizon and cold depressing raindrops poluted the land with the smell sadness and regret, I sat in my room alone steaming silently as I stewed at my own oak desk with a paper in front of me and pen in my hand, I wanted to write my brother a letter as soon as possible and perhaps if somehow the paper found its way to him he would answer me. I would be satisfied if I got a letter from him every other month, at least then I would know where he was going and who he was with.

As my mind wandered over the events of the day I could not keep from going back to the mood just after my brother was gone, the others, they were sad for the moment but it was not long until the subordinates broke the silence and joked and laughed and played once again, leaving me to be the only person in mourning of the proverbial loss of my brother.

I was bitter, bitter at my father for not letting Miyazi stay and bitter at everyone else for not feeling bad about not feeling bad. I was glad the sky started to cry, at least now I knew I was not alone in my sadness. Again my thoughts drifted back to Pain. I hated that man with the burning passion of a thousand suns and I was sure father knew it so whenever he wanted to speak to me he called me to his room to talk face to face and if he never did _that _again I would be even the more happy. But as was always the case with me, my hopes of never speaking to father again were dashed when the intercom system mounted on the wall next to my window crackled to life.

"Kichona-sama," it was Zetsu, the guy could practacally teleport anywhere through any substance and yet he was still afraid to go in my room, even if he asked... Pathetic. "Nagato-sama requests an audiace with you immediatly."

I smiled jumping from my desk, not caring that I knocked my chair to the floor along with the forgotten yet to be written letter. Perhaps father was going to apologize for sending brother away? Or even better if he was going to send me with him! I bolted out the dor without my kimono or my shoes. Father might be angry with me when he saw me but it would most certainly be worth it if he was going to apologize. I contemplated bringing along a tape recorder so I could have proof of his saying those words later on, mostly for blackmailing purposes.

Upon reaching my father's room I noticed that the door was already ajar as though he were expecting me to hurry just as I had. I stuck my head through the door without knocking.

"Father? You wanted to see me?" Honestly it sickened me to see my father in the state he was in, when I was a child he looked healthy and was even willing to get off of his machine to play with brother and I but those days were long gone, part of a memory, part of my life that I could never reclaim. Now all father looked like was a husk, something like Uncle Yahiko if you will but without the peircings and the full healthy look. Father was all skin and bones almost literally, his lips were cracked and dry and his eyes had sunken back making him look far older than his thirty eight years. I thought that maybe if mother were around again she could bring some life back into him but he would never give in to such a request, not after he found out about brother.

"Yes, please come in." I had to all but strain my ears to hear his voice, in addition to having a weak look he seemed to not be able to speak as well, as though if he overexerted himself at all he would break. Taking my seat on the mat in front of his machine I noticed that there was not much water left in the module that let him drink and refilled it for him before going and sitting down again.

"Thank you," he said, nodding his head at me, not yet noticing that I had not dressed properly, "I supose you don't know why I wanted to talk to you,"

"No sir," I thought, secretly screaming in my mind: 'Because you're an asshole and wanted to apologize for ruining my life... again!' But what I had hoped was not what he said.

"Good, I know you like to think up crazy fantasies in your head for me to go by and I would hate for that to happen this time, I called you here to tell you that your brother needs to be replaced as soon as possible."

I did not answer my hair hiding the surprised look in my eyes, he wanted to replace Miyazi, how could he say that? I knew that to my father he only thought of my brother as a tool, I mean how could he ever accept the lovechild of his wife? But to this extent to where he could be simply replaced was repulsing, I wanted to spit in his face and tell him how much of a horrible parent he was and how much he deserved to rot in hell for all he'd done, but I didn't. Sitting in the same place I had that entire time I held my tongue to hear him out, he might just prove me wrong and turn ths into a good thing... I hoped.

"Your brother's position in my orginization was to protect you, and now he's gone. We both know that I can let nothing happen to you because that would severely hurt our chances of achieving our goal," He paused to catch his breath and to gauge my reaction which was nothing more than a nod.

'You mean your plan, your goal,' I thought, but my father would not come to know my disaproval of his actions.

"So, to keep your safety from being jeopardized I have assigned a new operative to act as your bodyguard for the time being, he will be living in the same vicinity as you just as your brother has been and he will accompany you wherever you go whenever you go," Father kept on talking but I nearly tuned him out as I tried to imagine which ones of my friends, or my enimies I would have to live with. Since my brother had been the one 'protecting' me this whole time we shared a room from since we were little, but now someone else would be occupying the spare bed accross the room from mine, it just wasn't right.

I imagined Deidara being my new bodyguard, or even Sasori-san would be okay, but I dreaded the thought that my protecter would be someone like Hidan or kisame seeing as that I couldn't stand to be around either of them. Hidan was the most obvious chovanistic pig I had ever met in my life and Kisame was a little bit more secretive about his perverted intentions and I hated him for it. I suddenly became tired with worrying and picked up again on father's one sided conversation.

"... The operative who will be protecting you from now on is only in this position because he is unable to carry out his usual duties." I nodded along with him, longing for him to finally shut the hell up and tell me who this guy was!

'Psshhhhh...'

The cuff that was holding my father's left hand in place released him as he bid and he beckoned to the darkness calling out to someone that I had not known was there. My head snapped to the side excitedly to see who was going to be my new best friend, I was prepared to leap out of my seat and hug Deidara off his feet but I couldn't because my blonde was not there. From the dark recesses of my father's room strode the very same man whose life I had saved that morning, his eyes, once pitch black now glowed sickeningly red much like the color of blood.

Uchiha Itachi.

My jaw dropped open momentarilly before I was able to regain my composure enough to make a dissaproving 'ugh!' sound then throw my weight to the side and crossing my arms over my chest in a pouting manner. The sole reason for my sour attitude was in the hopes that I would evoke some sort of emotion from the man, it annoyed me to no end that throughout this morning's ordeal he showed me not one shred of fear, or of greatfullness. It made me feel that he thought he was higher than the rest of us, that he needed not let anyone know what he was feeling because we were not worthy of it.

I glared at the man for a moment longer before my father snapped at me for being rude or some nonsense like that as I glanced again at the Uchiha out of the corner of my eye to see that his face was completely unchanged, urg! Infuriating!

"Urgh! Daddy! How do you expect me to live with someone like _him_?" I glared at Itachi who, once again, stared at nothing but the floor. "I'll bet he snores." But that's not what I was thinking. Inside my mind which from the previous display of snobbery one would be correct in assuming was disseased and warped, I was dancing a jig for the fact that one of my enemys had not been assigned to me. Things like this made me think that my father may be looking out for me after all, and then things like this said otherwise:

"Be grateful young lady! My first choice was Zetsu!" That definatly shut me up. If you remember the last time I mentioned Zetsu I said that he refused to enter my room, this is because the last time he did he ate my pet rabbit and I was _pissed_. Lets just say that he had to eat fertilizer for a month to re-grow that venus fly trap encasing his head.

I kept my mouth shut but continued to pout, not at the fact that the Uchiha was my guardian, in fact I was almost greatful that had been his choice. But because he refused to acnowlege me with any kind of emotion, even when I was rude to him he did not get angry, when I saved him he was not happy, when my brother left he was not sad even though they had aparently been friends. The only sign of feeling I had ever seen come from that man was in fact when my brother left home earlier that day, when Itachi had smiled at him. I frowned at him and still he refused to look me in the eye. He better have not been happy that my brother was leaving us, if I ever found out that was the reason for his happiness I'll - well I probably won't do anything but I was going to plot out my revenge for such a scenario anyway.

Suddenly I realized father had been speaking again but when I tuned him in it was too late, he had already finished and itachi was all but dragging me towards the door.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked angrilly, ripping my arm from his grasp once the door was properly closed. When he did not answer I pulled back and slapped him, a triumphant smirk on my face, if that didn't get some kind of emotion out of him nothing would.

And it didn't.

He just stood there with that dumb look of uncaring on his face. Even as the place where I had slapped him turned red he stared down at me, not a hint of anything no anger, he merely rubbed the red mark while staring at me, this time in the eye. I had just showed my anger to his face with my hand! Why didn't he care?

"Nagato-sama asked you to leave," I glared at him, "Then told you to leave." My eye twitched slightly, "Then threatened you to leave and you did nothing."

My eyes narrowed, so now he was trying to help me? I'll bet he thought that would make up for my saving him, but that's not what I wanted. If he wanted to repay his debt I was going to milk all the labor out of this that I could!

He was mine.

"I own you," I said dangerously, "Because you owe me. A lot. And you're going to repay me with blood sweat and tears, got that?" At the end of my passionate rant I shoved my finger in his face, close enough for him to lick if he wanted to... wait, what? Um, nevermind...

For a second he seemed to not know what I was talking about before realization washed over his features... that counted as an emotion... right? Expecting him too hit me or yell I smiled knowing that i got him this time.

"Yes, I do," Wow, I hadn't expected that, "That is the reason why I took this job, among... other reasons." He kind of looked to the side and down to avoid my stare. And thats when I remembered, I had a secret for him to keep as well.

"And another thing!" I yelled, searching his face for something other than indifference, I found nothing, "Don't tell anyone - ever! That I healed you. I don't need press about me being a shinobi or anything." He gave me a questioning look.

"What? Are you not suposed to be one?" A hand slapped to my mouth and my eyes widened in surprise, I had given away too much! Hurredly I pouted again and turned in a brisk walk down the hallway, my new shadow trailing silently behind me. He didn't say anything else as we walked and neither did I, but my mind was going a million miles an hour as I wondered what else to tell him, or not to tell him. Surely he wanted to know a bit more about his new boss, most likely to be able to use it against me with it later. I decided right then that he wouldn't know anything more about me until he started to show me some emotion. That's all I really wanted but I wasn't about to tell him that, he had to figure it out all by himself.

When we arrived at my room I opened the door, scooted in and slammed the door in his face, but I wasn't able to keep him out. Itachi, wise to my plan, stuck his foot in the door and slammed his hand on the frame, I was sure this had at least hurt his hand but no pain showed on his face as he forced the door open and brushed past me to sit on the bed oposite of mine, Miyazi's bed.

"Stop! Don't do that!." He paused just before sitting on the bed and gave me a slightly questioning look.

"Why not? He stood and sat in a chair next to the bed, this chair too belonged to my brother but I couldn't very well banish him to the floor... or could I? I smirked strangely while he stared intently at the floor waiting for me to speak. I pointed to the floor and my smirk evolved into a sweet smile.

"You have to sleep on the floor-" He opened his mouth to say something but shut it, knowing better already. " B-because I -I don't think I'm ready for someone to take Miyazi's place. Not yet."

Even though my logic didn't make much sense he nodded knowingly and slid smoothely from the chair to the floor, knowing what I really wanted him to do but not knowing at the same time. I wanted him to fight me on this! It wasn't fair for me to be doing this to him so why didn't he care that I was being so mean? I may have been a bit of a sadist wanting him to yell at me and tell me how much of horrible brat I was being but that's what everyone else did so I assumed that since he didn't it was a sign that he didn't accnowlege me and damnit! i wanted him to acnowlege me!

He didn't do anything, just sat there on the ground, waiting for my next order and I was going to give him something to do before I got all worked up. I just wanted to give up on this guy, if being mean to him woudn't get anything out of him nothing would!

I glanced outside to see that the sun had long since set and it was far past my bedtime. Most teenagers wouldn't want a bedtime but I kind of had to have one, after nine thirty when I got too tired my immagination started to run wild and when my immagination ran wild so did my Rin'negan and Lord knows that's a bad thing. I sighed and grabbed from my side of the room my night clothes and dissapeared into the bathroom, but not before turning to him and saying:

"Urgh! Forget you! I'm going to take a shower and go to bed." He nodded but I didn't see him for I was already thinking of ways to unfairly punish him if he was sitting on the bed or chair when I returned.

Once inside the restroom I dumped my things on the floor and peeled off the itchy scratchy casual clothes I wore, remember I forgot to put on my kimono that morning, usually the damn thing was impossible for one person to put on by themselves but I made it work with my Kekkigenkai. I tossed my clothes towards the hamper and unpinned my hair setting the black bobbys on the counter. I frowned at the color of them, apparently they didn't make colored ones or I would have blue bobbys in my hair. As I climbed in the water and tested it for the tempurature I tried not to think of the man I knew was sitting right on the other side of the door, knowing that he wasn't my brother made me nervous and not want to remove my underclothes, besides, I didn't know if those eyes of his could see through walls or not. I hoped they couldn't.

The brillliantly hot water cascaded down my frozen skin and onto the floor and down the drain next to me, I was always cold but never took too long in the shower because I had no one to impress and no one to look nice for but even now as I was sure the man on the other side of the dor was listening for any sign of my being in danger I felt as though I should wash myself and make an effort to look decent.

I grabbed up my soap scrubbie and the soap and well, I'll spare you the details of my shower it might seem a bit creepy if I did that... ya'll know I'm creepy enough already.

Pulling the towel around my head to dry my hair I glanced around the bathroom, making sure I didn't leave anything outside, in hindsight I probably should have checked more seriously before I got in here. On the counter by the sink and the door was my toothbrush that I needed to brush my teeth before bed tonight, on the closed seat of the toilet was the towel for my body and next to that was- well was suposed to be my clean clothes... Where the hell were my clothes? I whirled around frantically when I didn't see them anywhere, I was sure I had picked them up but they were not in the room! I paused, not remembering dropping them before I got thrugh the door and knowing full well thats probably what I had done.

My face flushed red as I thought of walking out of that room in nothing but a towel with Itachi just sitting there waiting for me. What would he do? I really didn't know enough about him to know if he was a _Hidan_ or not. (By being a Hidan I mean if he was a total pervert or not an if he was I was going to have my father banish him from Akatsuki and really... the world, forever)

I took a deep breath wrapped the towel around my waist and strode out the door, confidently, with my head held high and hoping that nothing sugestive or strange happened, like I said earlier I had expected Itachi to be sitting on the bed or on the chair which would make me ( I decided) force him to sleep outside since it was going to be raining that night but much to my surprise and disgust he was not. itachi was sitting right where i remember him, about halfway between the bathroom door and the wall, I stopped and stared at him narrowing my eyes in glee when a wicked idea popped into my mind.

"Itachi-kun," I said in my sweetest voice, "Were you listening to me shower through the door?" Immediatly he looked up at me with surprised eyes and much to my delight blushed in the slightest before directing his gaze back towards the ground.

"No, Kichona-sama, of course not." He said almost forcefully and that's when I figured it out, Itachi respoded when I did something pervy or perhaps in any sexual light whatsoever, I smirked. this was going to be fun... and dangerous.

I smiled and strut past him swinging my hips and smirking. Glancing at him out of the corner of my eye I noticed the slight pink blush still on his face. Well, this was interesting. I strolled over to my clothing and picked them up, making sure to give him a nice view of my legs but making sure to keep him from seeing anything more than that. I turned back to him and smiled, making my way back to the bathroom.

"Alright, just making sure."

Just before dissapearing behind the door I looked back to see Itachi figetting with his fingers staring at the floor, I looked him over and frowned. He hadn't done anything, he hadn't smiled at her, smirked, winked... nothing more than a soft blush that was completely out of character for the Itachi Uchiha she had heard about from the others. He was softer, quieter and... nicer.

'Wham!'

Slamming the door behind me Itachi must have thought I was angry with him but instead of frowning I smiled and continued to get dressed for bed.

'_Maybe I can trust this one after all._'

**I am so sorry about this chapter, I rushed this one and I realize that in addition to the fact that I am really straying off the path I had set for this story, Kichoha's mission is to make Itachi acnowlege her and not be so cold but if you didn't get that I am sorry *bows*... Oh well, I tried. Please review and I would not mind some suggestions of how to make this better. I really need your help readers, to make this better than what I origionally hoped it to be. Please don't flame me about my ooc-ness of Itachi (i really 3 him :3) or the fact that my writing is not up to par. **

**Please and thank you,**

**Missus wishus69**


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